Morning journal and courier., 1887-12-23
HI1LHousE AVENUE

k44A k1OUSE AV BIN As 1t Was in Eighteen Hundred and
 FOrsysEight When the northampton
 Road Had Its Terminus and Depot
 There.
 In reply to letter in Thursday mornings edition of this paper asking whether there ever was depot of the Northampton road on Hillhouse avenue well known gentleman of this city says: The Northampton, or, as it was better known, the Canal railroad, was built in 1S47, and in 1648 small one-story wooden station Ia barn altered over) was built on the north bank of the old canal, between Hill house avenue and Temple street, and this was at that time the terminus of this road, and this small station, which was not as big as the smallest station on the road to day, was where the officers of the road had their quar- ters. A spur track was built off from the main track and over & trestle bridge across the canal cut and into the lot where St. Mary's church now stands, and on this lot stood an old fashioned barn with the three large white doors painted blue overhead and here the rolling stock of the company was kept. The motive power at this time con- sisted of three engines, the Cheshire, Bristol and Pennington, named after stations along the rOaQ. IleS6 engines were DTOuSQ6 HULL New York on the boat and by two pieces of section tracks the engines were taken up Water street to State and through State to Grove street and from there to the old barn where they were stored, the engines being showed from one section on to the other, and the rear section then placed ah cad, and so on until their destination was reached. From this little station the first passenger train ran over the road. It consisted of an engine and two of the old fashioned passenger cars, decorated with small flags and bunting. Nea1ly half the town turned out to see this train move out of the depot, and from the rear platform of the last car MT. James F. Babcock, for merly editor of the Palladium, made speech just before the train started. Also on board the train on this trip were: Cornelius Wild man, Mir. Babcock's partner, Mayor Skin- ner, Mayor Jerome and MT. William Good win, while Mir. F. H. Cummings, then boy, was among those who watched the train depart amid the loud cheers of was extended down through the cut to connect with the New York road at the pres ent City market, then the old depot. This work was completed in that year. About this time the Hartford road was also con tinued in from the Tin bridge, and so the connections were complete. While building this cut 8 boy was killed near the corner of
 
 of one of the embankments. The lad was not missed for over an hour, when he was dug out and found to be dead. One of the walls at the Wall street bridge which had just been finished was thrown down by an earthquake shock about this time, but no one was injured. Hillhouse avenue and sur roundings at that time presented an entirely different aspect from what it does at the present day. On the corner of Grove and Temple streets, where the house of the Dominican fathers now stands, stood an old-fashioned wooden house and in the rear of this the old barn used by the Northampton company as their engine house. The entire square above this, bounded by Hillhouse avenue, Temple street and the Canal road bed, was basin filled with wa ter and was called the basin, and here the boys used to go in swimming. This sport ceased, however, after an alligator escaped from Professor Benjamin Silliman's house on Hillhouse avenue and made it's headquarters in the old basin, which was the only place in town except down near Basin wharf where canal boat could be turned around. This basin was afterwards filled in with sand brought from the Handen plains, and it was while carting sand to this place that Mir. F. H. Cummings was nearly killed by being thrown from one of the dirt cars and striking on an anvil. He missed being struck in the temple by
 
 now stands stood the old Ithiel Towne house, where lived this famous architect who built the old State House and Center church. This house was afterwards sold to Mr. Sheffield, and was enlarged and transformed into about six times it's original size. On the corner of Grove and Prospect streets at this time stood the Yale Medical school, which as far back as sixty years ago was never used as hotel as near as can be found out at present. This college was plain two story square building with basement, and at one time, as many in the city still recollect, the people threat tened to tear it down as it was right opposite the cemetery, and the idea was that bodies were being stolen by the students and hidden in the building for disecting pur- poses. A body was missed from the cemetery about this time and found between the floors of the building, as was also another body. This created quite an excitement and almost riot among the townspeople at the time. Here also for time during it's history the famous and hon. ored surgeons Dr. Charles Hooker and Dr. Jonathan Knight assisted in the work of the school. Afterward this property came into the hands of Mir. Joseph E. Sheffield, who founded the Sheffield Scientific school and practically rebuilt the building. The only other building T.1I on this Grove, Temple and Prospect streets, was an old revolutionary house occupied by Mansfield family, which stood on Prospect street where the brick block near the corner of Trumbull street now stands, and in it were found bullets supposed to have been fired into it when the British invaded this city. Among the new houses built on Hill house avenue since that time are those of Professor Fisher, Professor Dana, President Porter, Mr. Henry c. Kingsley, MT. William Hillhouse, Dr. Henry Farnam, MT. Charles Farnam and MT. E. s. Wheeler and the Pel- atiah Perit house, now MT. Henry L. Hotch- kiss. On Grove street, between Church and Temple, was the car factory of F. H. Clay ton. The rest of that section around Tem- pie and Trumbull streets was very sparsely built up at that time.